Couching threads are used to fasten the laid thread of couching to the ground material. WV
The twisted chain stitch is a variation on the chain stitch. The needle emerges at A. The working thread is then held down with the left thumb and the needle is inserted just above it at B, in a slanting direction. The needle is then pulled through the loop that has just been made (C). The second stitch can now be started.
A scallop stitch is a composite stitch that is made up of a running stitch as the base and attached blanket stitches to fill in the pattern. WV
A darning needle is fairly big, with a large enough eye to thread a yarn. It usually is not very sharp.
The hem stitch or hem stitching is a ornamental drawn thread work technique, which is generally used to decorate the hem of garments or household textiles. Sometimes the technique involves the use of threads with a different colour from the main material.
Faggoting is a technique of sewing two hemmed pieces of textile together with (decorative) stitching, creating a zigzag pattern, but leaving a narrow gap in between. Also known as twisted insertion stitch. It was particularly used in the nineteenth century for ladies' underwear.
Needleweaving is a form of drawn thread work that involves darning or re-weaving patterns on bare warp or weft threads. The term needleweaving is sometimes used for a form of decorative darning ("chicken scratch").
Jacobean work may be regarded as a form of crewel embroidery, although it also uses silk or even metal thread. It is characterised by its floral designs, but it also includes animals, birds, etc. It became popular in England in the early seventeenth century, in the reign of James (Jacobus) I. A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, from c. 1599, heralds this style of embroidery (see the pertinent entry).
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The Oxburgh hangings are several long lengths of green velvet, which were made into a wall hanging, two bed curtains and a valance. They include the so-called Shrewsbury Hanging and the Cavendish Hanging. They are decorated with over one hundred applied panels called slips, which are decorated with counted thread embroidery. In addition there are 33 loose slips.
A pearl stitch is mainly used for providing an outline for a certain motif or area. It consists of a small straight stitch, leaving a tiny loop on the obverse of the fabric. The needle is next brought up in the middle of the stitch, taken around the loop and fastened again by passing the needle and thread through the fabric, thus creating a little knot in the middle of the straight stitch.
This example of quilting is used for a ‘suit of armour’ for a horseman. The quilt is made from two layers of natural cotton material, with a wadding layer in between of raw cotton. The decoration consists of bands of red and dark blue cotton cloth sewn (applied) onto the cotton ground. The stitching of the quilting takes the form of horizontal rows of small running stitches worked in a thick, cotton sewing thread.
Quilting is not widely found in Africa. However, there is a significant exception, namely the quilted armour found in parts of sub-Saharan and eastern Africa. In particular, the practice of quilted armour seems to cover an area as far west as the Djerma people of the middle Niger and as far east as Khartoum in Sudan. The armour was made for both warriors and their horses.
